Farmers' paintings of rural China on display in Mexico

MEXICO CITY, July 12 (Xinhua) -- An exhibition of 60 paintings of the Chinese countryside opened here Monday, featuring not just the daily life and customs of rural communities, but also local farmers' artistic talents.

The exhibition "Paintings by Guangdong farmers" is being exhibited at the National Museum of Popular Cultures in the central State of Mexico for the first time.

This exhibition serves to mark the 15th anniversary of China's southern province Guangdong and Mexico State becoming sister regions. State officials said this exhibition reflects good bilateral relations and a desire for cultural exchange between Mexico and China.

The paintings offer images of bucolic life centered around strong family ties and respect for mother nature.

One painting, by the young farmer artist Zhong Yonglian, who left China for the first time to accompany the exhibit, was inspired by the famous mountain songs of south China's Hakka people.

Exhibition visitor Jose Salinas Contreras, a farmer as well as chief of the Otomi indigenous community in Ocoyoacac, one of the state's 125 towns, was drawn to his work.

"Painting and art can sometimes express personal feelings which farmers can not express with words, as is the case with our Chinese brothers, expressing how they live, how they feel and what they believe in," Salinas told Xinhua.

The Otomi people also reflect their beliefs in their art, said Salinas, pointing to his wife's embroidered blouse and its images of the sun, which his community considers to be the creator of the universe.

These naif-style paintings, characterized by a lack of perspective and a focus on symbolism, have traveled the globe, being exhibited in the United States, Canada, Japan and Australia, among other countries.

China's Ambassador to Mexico Qiu Xiaoqi praised the interest of state officials in supporting such cultural exchanges.

"Through this cultural exchange, both sides will continue to deepen and expand knowledge and understanding between the two peoples," Qiu said during the opening of the exhibition.

The exhibition also forms part of a year-long celebration marking 45 years of diplomatic ties between China and Mexico.